With Maryland at a crossroads, a star local recruit arrives to play quarterback

By Canadian Press on April 25, 2025.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — It’s fairly common for college programs to shield freshmen from the media.

What Maryland did with Malik Washington was pretty much the opposite.

Earlier this month, the Terrapins made Washington — a top quarterback recruit who signed with Maryland in December — available to reporters during spring practice. It was a sign of how highly coach Mike Locksley thinks of Washington’s maturity and poise, and it was also an acknowledgement of just how much he could mean to the future of this program.

“I typically don’t let freshmen talk for the sake of them not being prepared for managing the type of media we have around here. But there’s no doubt in my mind he’s a little different than the typical quarterback,” Locksley said. “To give you a glimpse, because I know our fans want to see him, this is part of me changing and evolving.”

It’s not unreasonable to suggest Washington’s performance could make or break Locksley’s tenure at Maryland, which so far has included a return to respectability followed by a clear backslide in 2024. The Terrapins went to three straight bowls, but after losing prolific quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, they went 4-8 last season.

Locksley said the problems went deeper than just having to replace a productive QB.

“I thought for my first time as a coach, I lost my locker room,” Locksley said. “It wasn’t because I don’t know my guys. It’s the first time at Maryland, we dealt with haves and have-nots. Imagine a guy like (receiver) Tai Felton, who maybe didn’t get an NIL dollar, and he sees young guys coming in that come in because, based on the market, they get something. … That’s what we faced a year ago. I own that. So what I’ve done is gone about fixing the locker room.”

Now entering his seventh season, Locksley will have a new athletic director after Damon Evans departed recently for SMU. If the Terps stumble again, expect plenty of speculation about Locksley being on the hot seat.

But Washington may be arriving at just the right time. He was the No. 5-ranked quarterback recruit by 247Sports, and he’s already made a name for himself in Maryland after playing at Archbishop Spalding, where he threw for over 7,000 yards to set the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association passing record.

“I saw him build a program that wasn’t one of the blue bloods in his high school conference,” Locksley said. “He has natural leadership, and we always define leadership as having a positive impact on others. I think probably the most surprising is how quickly he’s been able to have that impact on our team and on the players in our program.”

Maryland plays its spring game Saturday. If a local player can turn the Terrapins into contenders in the Big Ten, that could go a long way toward improving attendance and helping Maryland football compete with some of the other sports options in the area.

“The DMV has a lot of pride, especially Maryland,” Washington said. “Being the flagship school, it means a whole lot to be able to elevate this program to the next level.”

When Washington spoke with the media, his comments were pretty routine, but the fact that he was put in that position was noteworthy. Maryland is ready to turn the page on 2024, and this next era can’t arrive soon enough.

It could be a while before Washington’s role next season becomes clear, but Locksley sounds unafraid to play a freshman at quarterback. Before taking over at Maryland, he was the offensive coordinator at Alabama when a pair of future NFL quarterbacks — Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts — were on the team.

Those two certainly showed they could handle expectations and pressure, and Locksley has been willing to compare Washington to that duo.

“I’ve seen guys like a Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa embrace that,” Locksley said. “To me, he’s in that mold of quarterback. He’s different than a typical freshman quarterback.”

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Noah Trister, The Associated Press

21
-20